f318e9b98f09659b9a20bfdfae8623ae by Unknown

Author:Unknown
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

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Two hundred meters upslope from the mortar position, Mercedes Warren caught up with the stragglers. She found Dr. Vito Pagliani sitting on the ground, puffing and wheezing, looking like he had very few steps left in him. Pagliani, a geologist, had replaced the discredited Dr. Redmond. He had arrived with the last resupply group, but at nearly 150 kilos, he was hardly in shape for field work. Can’t fault his courage, Warren reflected, especially compared to the guy he replaced. She’d seen Pagliani pass up a chance to ride a Dragonfly to their destination when he gave up his seat to a pregnant Edie woman with a toddler in her arms. Unfortunately, Warren was almost certain the Edie woman could have endured the overland hike better than the geologist.

Owen Phillips was standing over the exhausted scientist, shading him from the burning sunlight and offering him a bottle of water. Phillips, with Angel, his ever-present Edie shadow, had been at the front of the group with the point-patrol Marines and the Edie scouts. The young anthropologist was the group’s best speaker of the local Edie language and chief interpreter for the Marines. Someone must have told him Pagliani was in trouble, and he’d dropped back to help, but Angel was nowhere to be seen.

“Sent her to get some help,” Phillips replied when Warren questioned him. “The Edies are going to rig a litter. I don’t think Dr. Pagliani can make it on his own.”

As he spoke, four Edie hunters came trotting down the trail. One of them carried a rolled-up animal skin, while another brought two long poles. Warren thought they were going to construct a stretcher, but what they put together looked more like an impromptu sedan chair, with a sling made of the animal skin hanging between the poles. They persuaded Dr. Pagliani to sit in the sling, with his arms over the poles. They lifted the poles to their shoulders and headed up the trail at a surprisingly rapid pace.

Angel had returned with the hunters and spoke to Phillips in the almost musical tones of the Edie language. He nodded and turned to Warren.

“We’ve got to get back up to the front. The Marines have called a halt, and they don’t want to continue until we report all stragglers accounted for.”

“You last one, Doc-tor War-ren,” Angel added. “You come now.”

Warren smiled at Angel’s demonstrated ability to speak English but was dismayed that the Edie girl considered her a straggler.

“OK.” She nodded. “Let’s go.”

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